There are several power converter topologies that have been developed over the years, which are intended to improve the power density and switching efficiency of power converters. An emerging focus of new converter topologies is to provide a means to reduce or eliminate converter switching losses, while increasing the switching frequencies. Lower loss and higher switching frequency means more efficient converters, which can reduce the size and weight of converter components. Additionally, with the introduction of high speed composite semiconductor switches, such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) switches operated by pulse width modulation (PWM), recent forward and flyback topologies are now capable of operation at greatly increased switching frequencies, such as, for example, up to and greater than 1 MHz.
However, an increase in switching frequency can cause a corresponding increase in switching and component stress related losses, as well as increased electromagnetic interference (EMI), noise, and switching commutation problems, due to the rapid ON/OFF switching of the semiconductor switches at high voltage and/or high current levels. Moreover, modern electronic components are expected to perform multiple functions, in a small space, efficiently, and with few undesirable side effects. For instance, a modern voltage converter that provides for relatively high power density and high switching frequencies, should also include uncluttered circuit topologies, provide for isolation of the output or “load” voltage from the input or “source” voltage, and also provide for variable step-up or step-down voltage transformation.
A drawback to many of the conventional power converter circuits is the relatively high voltage and current stress suffered by the switching components. Additionally, high turn-off voltage (caused by the parasitic oscillation between transformer leakage inductance and switch capacitance) seen by the primary switch traditionally requires the use of a resistor, capacitor, diode subcircuit, such as a snubber circuit. This parasitic oscillation is extremely rich in harmonics and pollutes the environment with EMI, and causes high switching losses from the switching components in the form of extra thermal dissipation.
In an effort to reduce or eliminate the switching losses and reduce EMI noise the use of “resonant” or “soft” switching techniques has been increasingly employed in the art. The application of resonant switching techniques to conventional power converter topologies offers many advantages for high density, and high frequency, to reduce or eliminate switching stress and reduce EMI. Resonant switching techniques generally include an inductor-capacitor (LC) subcircuit in series with a semiconductor switch which, when turned ON, creates a resonating subcircuit within the converter. Further, timing the ON/OFF control cycles of the resonant switch to correspond with particular voltage and current conditions across respective converter components during the switching cycle allows for switching under zero voltage and/or zero current conditions. Zero voltage switching (ZVS) and/or zero current switching (ZCS) inherently reduces or eliminates many frequency related switching losses.
The application of such resonant switching techniques to conventional power converter topologies offers many advantages for high density, high frequency converters, such as quasi sinusoidal current waveforms, reduced or eliminated switching stresses on the electrical components of the converter, reduced frequency dependent losses, and/or reduced EMI. However, energy losses incurred during control of zero voltage switching and/or zero current switching, and losses incurred during driving, and controlling the resonance means, are still problematic. In the field of applying resonant converters for power management and power supply, a critical task is to eliminate losses and maintain high efficiency over a wide input voltage range.